Zimbabwe Parliament- What they said about the Belarus fire tender deal- Part 2

HON. MARKHAM:  Okay. The issue is very simple – who is going to do the back up for this tender?  Who is going to back up at the workshop for this tender?  I have said it is parallel to Pomona.  Thank you.

HON. NYABANI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I would like to know from the Minister, does it mean that all local authorities requested that there be fire extinguisher tenders?  If you look at other local authorities especially in rural areas, what is important for them are riggers.  In rural areas, for example in Rushinga, fire outbreak can happen after a long time, like two years.  What is important is water.  So does it mean that all our local authorities really want fire tenders?  If possible we can ask them as to how important these are to them?

HON. CHIKWINYA: On a point of order Hon. Speaker.  My point of order arises from the fact that Parliament has moved from paper trail to E-paper; from physical paper to E-paper.  I submit that when Hon. Ministers come with Ministerial Statements, soon after presenting their Ministerial Statements, their workers should upload.  Either they should give staff of Parliament who should then upload so that at least Members follow from their gadgets.  We could hardly hear due to network issues.  They can give a soft copy to Parliament staff who can upload then we can engage with them on factual matters.

HON. T. MLISWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  My question and points of clarity, the Minister alludes to Government to Government arrangement.  When it is Government to Government arrangement, it is Government to Government, it is not Government to council.  Councils have the right to twin with any council in the world.  That is why there are twinning arrangements.  When Government to Government arrangement is in place, it is Government that is responsible for that debt not the ratepayers.  We must distinguish that because they are coming in with Government to Government, that is agreement between the Government of Zimbabwe and the Government of Belarus. The Government has the right to enter into an agreement with any Government on issues which they themselves use their money and not the ratepayers’ money. We must understand that first of all. Do not think we are stupid by saying Government to Government.

There is no agreement between the Zimbabwe Government and the local authorities to supply them with fire tenders. Where is the agreement? Do not tell us about these stupid organisations that you want to pick today, firemen, this that and so forth.

The point of clarity that I have is, what do those firemen have to do with them sitting down and so forth? The firemen work through certain structures. There are three tiers of Government. If there is a head of that fireman they report to the CEO of the Town Council who then reports to the full council and they make a resolution on that. We want to talk about institutions which have power. The councils themselves have got to resolve because power also devolves. We are now taking away the fact that power devolves. Where do the local authorities derive their power from constitutionally when Central Government is coming in? Where do the Provincial Councils derive their power? There are those three tiers of Government which must be respected at the end of day where any council or provincial resolution is respected. The issue which is critical is whether there was a request or resolution by these councils because they meet from time to time to say ‘Government can you go and procure for us?’

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